Peonies Gush about The Landscape Parklife Tour, Recent Concert in South Korea and Spill About Upcoming Music Video
They have just traveled more than 600 kilometers from Jakarta to Malang by train, and with 19-hour-journey, Peonies do not seem exhausted when we met with them. We sat down with Jodi (guitar/vocals), Cinta (bass/vocals) and Citta (keys/vocals) that night to talk about their current tour “The Landscape Parklife Tour” across Java and many things that followed. Jodi who is also the founder of Nanaba Records said that the tour is aimed to promote Peonies’ debut album “Landscape” as well as to engage with fans from all over Java. The addition of Ikkubaru and lightcraft as their tour mates adds more excitement to the tour. Peonies’ formation could be said as unpredictable as Jodi and Citta used to be in a band together while they were in college in Bandung. Their old band was called Jodi In The Morning Glory Parade, with another members including L’alphalpha vocalist, Herald as the drummer and L’alphalpha guitairist Tercitra Winitya and another member who is a lecturer at Unikom Bandung. The band then went on a hiatus when Jodi graduated on 2010 and moved to Jakarta to work, while Citta pursued her master degree in Bandung.
Pushing being on a stage aside, Jodi accidentally met with Citta again on a gig. He persuaded her to be in a band again and Citta agreed to the idea. “I was on a period of hiatus and tried to not to be out there, but the idea of making music again was exciting” said Citta while she recalled the memory. Jodi said that the moment they met again was like magic, and he was also thankful that Citta was on a hiatus. “She was approached to be a member of another band, but thank God, that time she was unable to be reached, unless there would be no Peonies”, said Jodi while praising his bandmate’s skill. Citta then asked Cinta to join their band, when she actually had no idea how to play bass or any band’s music instrument. “I did not know how to play bass at all…” said Cinta who used to fond of taking pictures at gigs. Jodi added that she already had a knack to it and now becoming more skillful and could even play a little bit of guitar. They went on reminiscing their first gig together which was a complete mess.
When asked about Peonies music, the three of them actually have different influences with Jodi’s admiration towards Sondre Lerche and Cinta’s fondness towards The Naked and Famous. They tried to emulate a sound that is indie pop with a little bit of dream pop, citing Canadian band, Alvvays as one of their role model. During their stop in Malang, they were asked to cover some songs by The Cure. They said it was their first time of doing so and were nervous about the performance. The conversation then went to the current pop cultures, as they gushed about several TV series like Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and the new Marvel movie Dr. Strange. They also professed their loves for anything Japan and said that they once wore Doraemon costume on stage. “It was very hot but fun!” proclaimed Jodi. They also said that they frequently wore funny hats as their stage wardrobe. It was easy to see why they got along so well because they bond over similar taste and liking.
The band also told about their experience in South Korea for a performance at Zendari Fiesta 2016. “We loved everything about it, from the concert itself, the food, and also the hospitality of the people” said Peonies. The crowd was very enthusiastic about their performance and in return, they also got energized. Their participation on Zendari Fiesta had to utilize a sequencer to help them perform in a full band format, because they did not bring any additional players like they used to do for their local gigs. We also asked them about making a new music video after releasing “Whispering (All The Colours)” and they spilled some news that the new visual is on the work and they are collaborating with one well known artist. “We could not tell you right now about this artist identity, but it would be awesome” said Peonies intriguingly. Being graduates from art major themselves, we asked whether Citta or Jodi would make their own music video for Peonies. They liked the idea and would definitely want to make one someday, but in the mean time they would focus more on making music and promoting their “Landscape” album this year.
Pic by: Rizky Endar/ Writer: Novita Widia
